Shanghai | China: Chinese Supermarkets To Unsettle Your Tummy

Chinese supermarkets have to be one of the most interesting places within the country, especially for westerners. At the same time, it can leave your stomach a little unsettled. Meat is sitting out in the open air, dead fish float among the living in holding tanks, chicken feet are tied up and sold in bushels like broccoli and an awful smell fills the air, ensuring you don’t breathe too heavily at any given time. Still, we found ourselves captivated with some twisted addiction to see more in each supermarket we find, each differing in degrees of cleanliness and presentation.

The variety of foods, spices and amalgamations of all sorts are endless. Unfortunately, these supermarkets lack sampling. We hear Wal-Mart stores in China offer bountiful samples, and to us that sounds like a days adventure. Will report on that later!

View from the supermarket floor. Hearty selection of meats in the deli section. How many creatures' eggs can one possibly eat? The Chinese know no limits.

They had all kinds of eggs – duck, goose, quail etc. They were all dirty and covered in mud though – ew! We’re working on putting up pics – probably will have to be when we leave China since Picasa is blocked… stay tuned – we have some good posts coming up!